Disney’s toontown offers your child a safe interactive environment to play educational and entertaining games. This program is adored by both my younger siblings who have been playing it for years. They began when they were younger, and despite that it may be considered too young for them; they still continue to play it at the age of 13 and 14. Some reading is required for this game. Your child must be able to read the tutorial and the instructions, which they will receive from fellow toontown characters. This game is set in a fun-filled environment that allows your child to feel accomplished and learn while having fun.

In toontown your child has the ability to create a character from an animal. This animal will receive a personality and physical characteristics that will be chosen by your child. Their toon will be able to interact with other toons within the town. Fortunately, they can only use phrases from a drop-down list that has been previously chosen by Disney. For example your child may use the words howdy or hello to begin a conversation. As in many other games, your child’s character can become sad, but cannot endure any harm to it.

This is an example of the 'gags' that your child will use against the 'cogs' that are trying to take over the city of toontown

The innocence in this game is that it refers back to the original Disney characters. As your child plays they will be accompanied by the beloved Mickey and Minnie. Also your child will not be introduced to any ads or violence. In replace of violence, toontown uses pranks or gags. These may consist of spraying water from a flower onto the bad guy or ‘cog’.  Your child will be constantly accomplishing tasks by request of the mayor. These tasks can involve receiving coins or removing the evil cogs from the city.

There is a significant amount of games that your child can choose from within the arena of toontown. Your child can play for a significant amount of time before a membership must be purchased. The purchase rate runs from $9.95 a month, but is not necessary in the beginning. The membership will allow you to create more than one character and play more levels. The site does inform the parents about these procedures required. Also toontown, as an affiliate to Disney, can lead to many other interesting games and age appropriate adventures.

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When using Neopets, your child has to create an account, which is free to all users. Some basic information is required, including an email address, in case of a lost password. Also with the necessity of an email address, it will require your permission for your child to engage in this site. The use of the account is to collect points and keep track of your Neopet. This game requires a child to learn responsibility about having a pet. For example the pet if neglected, can become withered and ill. This game allows your child to feel accomplished. By playing games your child can earn Neocash which is used to decorate your neo-home and revitalize your Neopets. All of these lessons are taught through over 100 games. These games can range from puzzles, educational (for example the game, Imperial Exam, is helpful with spelling) to games that are based upon pure fun. All of the games are geared toward children, with no violence involved. The games involve the use of the Neopets characters, which are adorable and friendly. Your child can also interact with other neo-pets within town, but it is not an online network for meeting new people.

This picture is one of the towns your child and their neopet can visit. It includes different shops that they can use to purchase new items for their Neopet with their neo-cash. Many of the towns are similar to this one, but different in appearance. They all include different games that are relevant to it’s neighborhood.

Although there are no pop-ups, as a parent, you may want to be aware of the ads that are on the boarder of the website. Also an ad will present itself before each game your child chooses to play. Fortunately, these ads are not inappropriate to younger ages. Most ads consist of children’s movies and cell phone coverage.

I have played Neopets throughout my childhood, and at the age of 20, still have friends who indulge themselves in its experience. All of my friends and younger siblings have found this game extremely enjoyable. This game is fun because it has its own child-like innocence. The only problem with this site is that it can be confusing in some regards. Luckily, there is a tutorial that your child can use to learn how to play.

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BinWeevils is a wonderful social platform site for children ages 7-13.  The BinWeevils site gives the children many activities to do and keeps them safe while they do it.  They have games (many educational) that you can play with other members or independently.  In BinWeevils you also have the ability to create your own BinWeevil, decorate your place and get a pet and SO much more.  Both my children, ages 7 and 10 really enjoy this site and the MANY things you can do on it. It is a pleasure to be able to review it AND recommend it to you.

Here is some information from the creators of the site:

“Responding to the revolution in the online games industry, where four out of five kids use the Internet for playing games and social networking, BinWeevils allows children to create an avatar (BinWeevil) for free, make friends, play games, watch TV shows and cartoons, read book previews in an online library and enter competitions.

Taking on a new identity, users need to survive in the Bin by staying fit, fed and financed. To do so children must build on their social skills and rely on one another to complete missions, tasks and maintain virtual jobs. In return they earn “Mulch” (virtual currency) to spend in the Shopping Mall where they can grab a bite to eat or visit one of many stores to pick up a new state of the art remote control helicopter for their “BinNests” (virtual homes). “

A core part of BinWeevils’ philosophy is to educate children in aspects of life such as healthy eating and staying active while exercising their minds with daily quizzes. Children are encouraged to nurture their BinWeevils by feeding them regularly, keeping them fit with a variety of exercises, and helping them stay happy through various activities. “It is a fact that children learn better through play, this is why BinWeevils uses its 3D Online Entertainment Platform to “edutain”, a mixture of education and entertainment, to help establish valuable life skills for our users”, explains Myke Crosby, Director at BinWeevils. “

“BinWeevils allows children to create an avatar (BinWeevil) for free, make friends, play games, watch TV shows and cartoons, read book previews in an online library and enter competitions.”

REVIEW

I have explored Binweevils with both of my kids and by myself for this review and find it very enjoyable.  They have very educational games like crosswords and games that you find in the Lab such as 1) identify the maps 2) identify flags 3) math problems 4) identifying the time 5) figuring out which circuit is compete and more.   There is also the fun of a social environment where kids can meet their friends online and play some of the games together.  The site felt very safe and you need a parent’s email okay for you to become a member.

The site advances you by the experience and mulch you earn playing. The more you play the more you get to experience.  As you move up you can buy a pet, decorate your place and even take part in adventures where you need to gathers clues and figure a problem out. You can also buy a business and get it up and running to earn even more mulch and experience.  There are many ways to spend your time on Binweevils – whether it is playing or just enjoying the interactive environment by meeting a friend at a cafe for a bite to eat or watching game previews. It truly feels like they have created a safe environment for kids to explore.

I didn’t think the review would be complete without featuring my favorite game on the site.   It is called Tink’s Blocks and is a challenging puzzle game.  (It is located on Mulch Island – you have to take the plane there). Remove all the blocks from the board by clicking on pairs of more than 2 of the same color.  This requires forethought and gets harder as the levels advance.

I like the graphics a lot for this site and below is a video a member made showcasing the new features.  When my kids and I joined 6 weeks ago it looked totally different.  The new look is very improved and if you watch this video you will have an idea of where things are located.

I also enjoy that there are many ways to earn mulch so that the kids do not get bored. The crossword puzzles, spot the difference game,  word search and assorted other games are one way.  You can also enter a lottery and see if you win some.  The children mine have encountered on the site are friendly and all the interactions are appropriate and approved.  I enjoyed my time playing on Binweevils and know my children will for a long time to come. Thanks to creators of Binweevils for creating a quality, educational and safe site for children.

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THE RUNT FARM BOOKS

The Runt Farm books by Amanda Lorenzo are about characters in a barn. In each story you will have a few more characters join the barn and you get to know them very well. They form an nontraditional family much like most of the families today.  This book is great for mixed families, diverse families, adoptive families and really brings up that being a FAMILY means helping each other and not just all being alike. The characters;  Kitten, Peep, Beatrice the Bunny, Cletis the genius inventor mouse… and more all have distinctive personalities.  They get themselves into situations where they must come together and use their wits to help and figure things out. The illustrations are beautiful and are done by Mark Evan Walker.

To date there are three books and these are being hailed as wonderful books to introduce to any kind of diverse or mixed family.  We have a pretty traditional family by most standards and my family loved them as well.

The Runt Farm Site

The site offers:

Coloring pages – Print out and color in pictures of your favorite characters from the book.

“Verbarium” – where you can go to look up the words you will find in the Runt Farm books… some made up and some longer than the average 6 year old would know. My daughter learned several words while reading these.

Mini Posters – Print out Runt Farm Mini Posters.

Help Your Child Take a Quiz to Find out WHICH Runt farm Character They Are

The Barn Wall – where you can write to the author, Amanda Lorenzo, submit your own pictures, stories, recipes and more.

For Parents and For Teachers – They have areas for both with many resources that are very valuable for families.

I highly recommend the Runt Farm books.  Thank you Amanda Lorenzo and Mark Evan Walker for these jewels and for having a site where my daughter can continue to be involved with the characters.

On a separate note to my readers – I would like to thank my wonderful husband, Ray Mannion for the new site design.  I love it and hope to be posting more.  Sorry for my absence.   BUT I have found many new sites since I have been gone to tell you about… stay tuned!

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Eco-Match is filled with maps and information about the animals and environment.  Kids can enjoy the educational aspect of it without even realizing it.  You don’t NEED to know how to read to play the game but reading the information adds to drawing the child deeper into the quest.  As you move forward and complete assignments you are rewarded with e-coins that you can use to access other projects to buy.  Projects that help animals and the environment.  Buying projects gives you access to different Eco-Charge skills that can be used on an assignment.  Such as a Transplant power up that will allow you to click on a tile to remove it if you are stuck on a level.

Eco-Match has cute graphics and sound.  It is another game by Playfirst with many options.  You can download and play for free for an hour to see if you like it before deciding if you want to buy the full version with 150 levels. Thank you Play First Games – Eco-Match is another educational nonviolent game for children!

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The goal – to get the balls in their correct containers by cutting them.  Sounds easy, right?   As you can see by the second image – the puzzles get harder.  What’s nice is there is no time pressure and the problem solving allows you to use trial and error to come up with a working solution for each puzzle.  The graphics are cute and the music pleasant.

Shockwave offers MANY free online games for kids.  Shockwave is also now affiliated with Nickelodeon Arcade now so ensure a safe site experience.  There are links on the site but they are for other child friendly games.

My 6 year old daughter had fun with Civiballs 2: Empire Bounce and Roll and I find in appropriate for 6 and up.  Another perk is that you can explore different levels in different lands so if one level has got you stuck – you can choose a different Level to visit.  It is a fun game to play WITH your child so you can problem solve together to get the solution.I definitely recommend Civiballs 2 as a fun and educational kids computer game.

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You are a robot in Mechinarium (that is when you find your parts and PULL yourself together.   You can make yourself taller and shorter which comes in handy when you are trying to solve certain puzzles.  You can reach things much further above you when you extend to your full height.  This game is original and very entertaining.

This game is appropriate for all ages.  I solved the demo with my six year old daughter in about 30 minutes and we had lots of fun doing it.  I highly recommend all Amanita Design Games and Mechinarium is another amazing game added to their collection.

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Overview of Moshi Monsters

Moshi Monsters is similar to the other social networking sites for kids in that you adopt a pet (in this case a monster) and have to look after it and add things to its house. There is the map that you can wander around playing games, exploring and taking hints from your monster as to what to do next.  There are stores to buy stuff from and a few of the games I liked when I was exploring were:

Ice-Scream

Similar to a Diner Dash – type Game.  Clients come in and you need to give them the correct ice cream cone in a timely fashion.  The possible variations and toppings increase as you move forward levels.  This game is great for teaching children attention to detail and how to teach them logically the most efficient way to go about the task.  Fun for all ages although I would say ages 6 and up have less of a chance of getting frustrated!

The Underground Disco

A similar game to Tap Tap Revenge. Make your monster do some cool moves by pressing the correct arrow key as they come into the circled area.  This helps with musical timing as well as dexterity.  These games are very popular with kids.  This has 3 different levels and many different songs for each level -the more you play the more songs you can unlock.

Those are just two of the many games I found when I was wandering around. You can also play games from your room by clicking on the Puzzles button.  You can play the Daily Challenge which will give you more “Rox” for finishing or you can play many different puzzles ALL of which are educational.  You do need to read to play most of these so I would say ages 6 and up or earlier if you have an early reader or will help your child understand the rules.  Each puzzle games can only be played once that day and your high score is listed as shown here.

The puzzles are all unique but all are fast and require quick thinking.  Jig Saw Jam is a good example of what you will find in their puzzle section. Children can develop MANY different educational skills by playing the various puzzles Moshi Monsters has to offer.

Conclusion

Moshi Monsters is a step ahead of many of social networking sites for kids.  It is safe, it is fun AND it is educational. My kids (6 and 10) BOTH love this site and have fun exploring and do not think of the educational games as boring at ALL. In fact they gravitate toward them and THAT is a gift for parents who want their children to learn as they play instead of just kill time.

As you play Moshi Monsters your level goes up and you unlock more and more games and things to buy.  This keeps the children wanting to play more not even realizing they are learning simultaneously.  I love the structure, layout, graphics and safety of Moshi Monsters. I highly recommend this site to parents and kids for fun and educational computer games and the experience as a whole.

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Whizz Ball comes with many options and for the beginner and children under 10 — I highly recommend clicking on the “How To Play” and watching the tutorial.  My son who is 10 took quickly to this game and began with “Build Your Own Puzzle”.  This is also a good way (especially for older kids) to explore learning how the pieces interact with each other.

When you “Click to Play” you are brought to a page where many kids have submitted their own puzzles to be solved.  The goal of this game is to get the ball that begins by being dropped down the tube through the puzzle to the red bulls eye target. There are puzzles for all levels of skill play and kids also rate the puzzles.  You can search for the kind of puzzle you would like to do through difficulty, date, author, title, popularity or randomly.  My son loves the author way to search so he and his friends can keep up to date on their latest puzzle creations. I love that you can play this game by just entering a screen name and no additional sign up is necessary.  There are some ads but all that I saw were for shows and games on the Discovery Channel.

When you are in Puzzle Creator mode it is easy to save, load or share your puzzles with others.  There is no end to the types of puzzles you can create. The pieces are very fun and the innovative.  Here is a picture of a simple puzzle I made.  My son’s are much more complicated and he is having fun inventing them and seeing JUST how complicated he can make them.

Whizz Ball is just one example of the quality educational games you can find on Discovery Kids.  It is a wonderful site to explore for all ages.  Please take the time to check out Whizz Ball, Discovery Kids Games and all Discovery Kids has to offer.

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Wii Sports Resort is not just a kid’s computer game — it is a game the whole family will enjoy playing. Whether it is fencing, ping pong, basketball, wakeboarding, archery, skydiving or any of the other many games that are offered – there is truly something for everyone.  The game play is so realistic and the addition of the Wii Motion Controller adds to the feel of you really being IN the game.  I feel this game is appropriate for all ages but there are definitely some games where the controls might take some getting used to for the younger kids.  It is a pleasure to bring you my review, a little about each game offered and some things I really enjoy about Wii Sports Resort.

Let’s begin with the video so you can get a feel for what it is like:

Wii Motion Controller

When you buy this game you can get one Wii Motion Controller (you add it to your existing remote) or you can get the expanded game pack that comes with 2 motion controllers. Honestly I wish I had known about the edition with 2 before I bought the first.  The Wii Motion Controller adds to the realistic game play and to buy a second motion controller AFTER the fact is more expensive than just getting the original pack with 2 included.  With just one controller you have to pass it back and forth and cannot play simultaneously.  Many of these games are one player but it would be really nice for the whole family or at least more than one to play the option of playing simultaneously.  I think additional Wii Motion Controllers will be on our Christmas list! They are easy to snap onto the existing Wii remotes and to snap off if need be.  It does feel like it adds to the sensitivity and REALNESS of play.

Games

There are MANY games included in Wii Sports Resort and within those games are other versions of the games for you to unlock.  The games include:

Swordplay — Fencing is so realistic in this game.  Hold and swing the Wii remote like a sword.  There are modes where you can slice through fruit, duel or have a showdown against multiple sword fighters.  Nintendo is great at making fencing ultra realistic and celebrating the sport it is rather than having it be like sword fighting.  My kids LOVE this one.

Wakeboarding — Hold the Wii Remote like you would a handle if you were water skiing or wake boarding.  Carve the water by tilting the Wii Remote left and right and pull up when you get over a wake to get huge air and do fun tricks.  This one took a little while to get the hang of but we all loved it when we did.

Archery — Use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck exactly like you would a bow and arrow.  You have 12 shots to hit the target and you add up your points to beat your high scores and compete against other players by taking turns.

Frisbee — Throw your frisbee on the beach at the target so your dog can run and catch it.  Yeah, I was scared with this one – any Wii game that involves throwing makes my heart stop a bit when my 6 year old takes the control for the first time.  I am happy to report the TV IS still in one piece and my kids really enjoy this one as well.  You can also unlock Frisbee Golf which has the objective of throwing the Frisbee and getting it to the green in as few throws as possible.

Basketball — Compete to see who can make the most 3 point shots in the time limit.  After playing this you can unlock a pick up game and this is one I wish I had the extra Wii Motion Controller for — so we could play simultaneously.

Power Cruising — You use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck like you would two handle bars on a Jet Ski.  You can ride the waves and this one is another one that takes a little getting used to but is so much fun once you do.  You can play the Slalom Course  or a game versus another player – would be good to have the extra controls for this one as well if you want more than one to play.

Cycling — Use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck like pedals.  Pacing is important in this game because if you pedal too fast for too long your Wii character will become tired.  Play as a road race or against another player in your home.  Also need additional controllers for the VS. mode.

Golf – If anyone in your family enjoyed Golf in the original Wii Sports this is for them!  My husband is a big fan of this one and says this version is a upgraded and offers more courses than the last. You swing the Wii Remote JUST like a golf club and the game play is very realistic.

Table Tennis — Swing the Wi Remote just like a Ping Pong paddle.  Very realistic game play and yet another that would be even more fun if there were 2 Wii Motion Controllers.  Without you can still play against the computer and game play gets harder as your skill level increases. After playing the first version you can unlock Return Challenge where you can take turns returning as many serves as you can.

Bowling — This version of Bowling allows you to choose manual throwing style (as in Wii Sports) or automatic throwing style so any time your hand moves forward like you are throwing the ball it is released. A nice option to make it even easier for younger ones. After playing the regular game you can unlock 2 more fun bowling games “100 Pin Game” and “Spin Control”.

Canoeing — Hold the Wii Remote like an oar and start paddling!  You can play the speed challenge or vs. mode — take turns playing or use extra controls to play simultaneously.

Air Sports — This category is the favorite in my house. There are 3 different games offered.  Skydiving – Is tons of fun… you are the Wii remote as you jump from the plane.  You try and grab other players to form formations and have pictures taken with as many people connected and smiling as possible each time. This is very different from any other Wii Game I have played and one that made me say “AGAIN”. Island Flyover – This is my son’s favorite game. The Wii Remote IS the plane and you fly over beautiful scenery to try and find the

“i” targets above places and objects to shoot and then fly into.  Whether you are flying into a volcano or have unlocked flying at dusk – this game is very pretty and challenging.  They don’t tell you where the targets are and they don’t show up until you are close to them.  Exploration of the entire area is necessary and my son has a blast trying to find the remaining targets.  Dogfight – Fire your balloon blaster to knock out the other person’s balloons.  Another one you need the extra Wii Motion Controller for.

Overview

I LOVE Wii Sports Resort – this ranks in my top 5 Wii games without a doubt.  I love the Wii Motion Controller.  My only wish is that I knew some of the games required the additional accessory so I would have bought the combo pack to begin with instead of having to add it on at a larger cost.  There are MANY good games in this one package and ones that the kids will be playing for a long time to come.  Wii Sports Resort follows in the Nintendo tradition of making wonderful games for the entire family. I highly recommend Wii Sorts Resort but do yourself a favor and if you plan on playing with more than one player get the Expanded Wii Sports Resort with Two Controllers to begin with.

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